US to get wider access to South China Sea for military warships and aircraft

US destroyer USS Fitzgerald arrives at the former US naval base in Subic Bay, Olongapo City, north of Manila (AFP Photo / David Bayarong) / AFP

The US has expanded negotiations with Manila and is seeking to build facilities and storage sites in the Philippines, as well as gain greater access to bases for its aircraft and warships. Bases the US is considering are all facing the South China Sea.

Talks for greater US military presence in the South China Sea
comes as the territorial dispute between China and the
Philippines is heating up. Since February, the Philippine
military has complained that Chinese navy and government vessels
have increased their presence in the disputed area.

Ambassador Jose Cuisia this week told reporters that the
Philippines plans to provide the US with greater access to its
bases on a temporary and rotational basis, which would bolster
its defense. Although Manila will not provide permanent basing
rights to the US, it would allow the US to have a wider presence
in the South China Sea.

The 1998 Visiting Forces agreement allows US forces to maintain a
rotational presence in the Philippines, but Washington is now
looking to expand upon that and fund its own facilities.

“We need to expand (the 1998 pact) further because we may have
to build some additional facilities,” Cuisia said during a
press conference in Manila. Such facilities would be funded
for “joint use” and would allow the US to store its
military equipment and supplies in the Philippines. Cuisia claims
that such facilities would allow the country to be prepared for
potential humanitarian aid and disaster relief efforts.

“Then whenever it’s needed it’s so much easier to use that
equipment because it’s already there,” Cuisia said.

Facilities and military bases that the US wants to use for its
aircraft and warships are facing the South China Sea, which would
allow Washington to operate its warships and aircraft near the
disputed territory.

The Philippine military last month told Reuters that it plans to
restore air and naval bases at Subic Bay, which is a former US
Navy facility that would provide the US with a strategic location
in the region. Military and diplomatic sources this month told
Reuters that all of the military facilities that the US is
requesting greater access to are facing China.

The US has already used Subic Bay for ship visits, and US defense
contractor Huntington Ingalls Industries last year set up an
operation to service US Navy ships. James Hardly, Asia-Pacific
editor for HIS Jane’s Defense Weekly, told the New York Times
that this might be an indication that the US will keep its
warships and aircraft in the Philippines in the long run.

“Certainly the buildup in Subic by companies that expect to
support the US military suggests and expectation that this is
going to be a semi permanent presence,” he said.

Carl Baker, program director of the Pacific Forum of the Center
for Strategic and International Studies, told Voice of America
that talks of a base-sharing plan is another indicator that the
US may be creating a permanent presence in the Philippines.

“I think that’s sort of the model that they’re following,”
he said. “So they can put people on these bases on a more
permanent basis without calling it ‘permanent basing.’”

News of the expanded US presence in the Philippines may ignite
further anger in Chinese officials as tensions between the two
Asian nations remain high. In late 2012, the US announced
that it would increase its number of troops, aircraft and ships
that rotate through the Philippines – a statement that angered
Chinese officials and prompted Chinese media to describe the
Philippines as troublemakers seeking conflict. At the time,
Chinese Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping urged his military to
prepare for a struggle.

The Philippines is currently locked in a dispute with China over
claims in the South China Sea, in particular the resource-rich
Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal. Cuisia told reporters
that informal talks between Manila and Washington have reached
the ministerial level, and that both sides are hoping to strike a
deal before President Benigno Aquino steps down in 2016.